Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to drag Manchester United over the line in a 3-2 win over Norwich City in their English Premier League (EPL) encounter at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The 37-year-old scored his second hat-trick in five matches to bring his tally to 21 goals in all competitions this season as an underwhelming Man United laboured to overcome the EPL bottom-placed side.
The Portuguese legend opened the scoring by pouncing on an error before doubling it on 32 minutes with a header from Bruno Fernandes’ corner-kick delivery.
United’s poor defence reared its ugly head again, switching off in disarray to gift Norwich two goals; Kieran Dowell profited on the stroke of halftime before Teemu Pukki equalised six minutes after the interval.
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Ronaldo, however, had the final word in the encounter courtesy of a brilliantly-taken 30-yard free-kick 14 minutes before the end. It was his first free-kick goal since September 2020.
The win brings Man United’s points tally to 52 points from 32 matches and the Red Devils sit sixth on the table, five points behind Tottenham in fourth position.
Tottenham saw their eight-point advantage over Man United cut following a 1-0 defeat at home to Brighton and Hove Albion, no thanks to Leandro Trossand’s 90th minute winner. Arsenal, in fifth place, could not capitalise on their North London rival’s slip, falling to a similar 1-0 defeat at Southampton.
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At the bottom of the table, Emmanuel Dennis, Super Eagles striker, got on the scoresheet but his Watford team lost 2-1 at home to Brentford to continue their almost-assured slide towards relegation. The 24-year-old equalised for the Hornets on 55 minutes but the visiting Bees stung in the 90th minute to snatch victory.
RESULTS
Tottenham 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Watford 1-2 Brentford
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Manchester United 3-2 Norwich City
Southampton 1-0 Arsenal
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